Charles Ellicott Commentary Revelation 21

XXI.

THE FINAL REGENERATION—ALL THINGS NEW: NEW HEAVENS; NEW EARTH; NEW JERUSALEM (Revelation 21:1–22:5)

THE NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH

And I saw a new heaven...—The hope of the renewal and restitution of all things had been long cherished.

Earlier prophets had sanctioned this hope: Isaiah had told of new heavens and new earth (Isaiah 65:17); Ezekiel had closed his prophecy with the splendid vision of a renewed land of promise (Ezekiel 40-48); and Christ Himself had spoken of the era He inaugurated as the regeneration (Matthew 19:28).

His followers soon caught the truth that the outcome of the gospel age would be the realisation of all those marvellous visions with which prophets had sustained the fainting hopes of the people of God.

This hope was not to be forever receding as new height after new height was surmounted.

It will not always be said, “The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth” (Ezekiel 12:22). The fulfilment may seem to tarry; the unbelieving might doubt or scoff (Matthew 24:43; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:4); but those who felt that the gospel was a power of spiritual regeneration, making all things new (2 Corinthians 5:17), learned to look forward to the widest and fullest restoration, and to expect new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness (2 Peter 3:13).

The characteristic word that runs throughout the description is the word "new." All things are to be made new: the heavens and earth are new; the Jerusalem is new. There are two words translated as new in our English version: one of these (neos) relates to time; the other (kainos) relates to quality. The first would be applied to what had recently come into existence; the other to what showed fresh features.

The tomb, for example, in which our Lord’s body was laid was new, not in the sense that it had been recently hewn out of the rock, but in the sense that it had never been used before; it may have been long made, but it was one wherein never man was yet laid. To describe it, the second word (kainos) is used (Matthew 27:60 and John 19:41). In the same way, the wineskins (called “bottles” in our English version) required for the new wine were not necessarily wineskins only just prepared for service, but they were skins that had not grown withered but retained their freshness and elasticity. Here, again, the second word (kainos) is employed to describe them.

Now, it is this latter word that is used throughout this chapter and, indeed, throughout the book of Revelation. The newness pictured is the newness of freshness: the old, decaying, enfeebling, and corrupting elements are swept away. The aspects and features that will surround the inhabitants of that new earth will be full of novelty to satisfy the progressive instincts of our nature; but the imagery no less conveys the assurance that the conservative instinct, which clings to what is old and finds sanctity in the past, will not be disregarded.

All things may be new, full of fresh and fair beauty, but all things will not be strange; there must be some correspondency between the old and the new when the new things are called new heavens, new earth, new Jerusalem. The description is figurative, but its spirit implies that in the restitution age, the sweetness of things loved and familiar will blend with the charm of all that is fresh and new.

And there was no more sea.—Or, better, And the sea is (exists) not any more. Among the more detailed features of the new earth, this obliteration of the sea stands first.

It is strange that so many commentators should vacillate between literal and figurative interpretations of the chapter; the ornaments and decorations of the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:10–21) are treated as symbolical, while the annihilation of the sea is considered literal. It is wiser to leave the literal meaning to the future and to grasp the spiritual teachings, which are of infinite and present interest.

The sea has played an important part in the symbolism of the book: out of the sea rose the wild beast (Revelation 13:1), and the purple-clad Babylon sat enthroned upon many waters (Revelation 17:1).

The restless, tumultuous ocean—now discordant with its clamorous waves, now flooding the earth in confederate force; the troubled sea of evil, which cannot rest, and casts up but mire and dirt (Isaiah 57:21)—is no more to be found.

It will not be found on the face of that new earth, nor near that city whose peace is as a river, and whose righteousness as the waves of the sea (Isaiah 48:18), and whose inhabitants are delivered from “the waves of this troublesome world.”

And I John saw the holy city . . .—Better, And the holy city, new Jerusalem, I saw coming down out of heaven from God, prepared . . . The name John is omitted in the best manuscripts.

The new Jerusalem is more fully described later on (Revelation 21:10 and following). The city is also the bride . Both images—the “city” and the “bride”—are familiar to the Bible student. The sacred city appears linked to God by a sacred bond (Isaiah 61:10; Isaiah 62:4–5; Galatians 4:26; Ephesians 5:25–27).

The city-bride is now adorned for her Husband. We know what her ornaments are, now that He is about to present her to Himself a glorious Church: the meekness and gentleness of Christ, and her loving obedience to Him (1 Peter 3:4), are her jewels.

She is seen, not rising from earth or sea, like the foes of righteousness (Revelation 13:1; Revelation 13:11), but coming down from heaven. The world will never evolve a golden age or ideal state. The new Jerusalem must descend from God. The true pattern, which alone will realize humanity’s highest wishes, is the pattern in the mount of God (Acts 7:44).

THE FIRST VOICE—The voice out of the throne (Revelation 21:3–4).

And I heard a great voice out of heaven...—According to the best manuscripts, the voice now heard was “out of the throne,” saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them. Here, as in Revelation 7:15, the translation “shall dwell” weakens the force of the allusion. The tent, or tabernacle, is in the seer’s mind.

There is a difference in the prepositions used here and in Revelation 7:15: in the latter, God was spoken of as tabernacling over them; here He tabernacles with them. He not only stretches His cloud-shelter over them, but He is with them. They shall be His people, and He shall be God with them, their God. The introduction of the words in italics (“and be”) in our version is a weakness; the force of the thought is spoiled. They are God’s people, and He is their Emmanuel—God with them, their God. The prophet Ezekiel supplies parallel thoughts (Ezekiel 37:27–28).

And God shall wipe away all tears . . .—Instead of “all tears” we should translate “every tear,” and so possess the promise in its true and tender form.

The first, or former, things are passed away: death shall not be any longer; neither shall mourning, nor crying, nor pain, be any longer. The splendid array of negatives comes as heralds of the positive peace of the new Jerusalem: no sea, no tears, no death, no mourning, no crying, no pain; with the former things these six shadows pass away from life.

“The mourning is that grief which so takes possession of the whole being that it cannot be hidden” (Archbishop Trench). It is the same word that is rendered “wailing” in our English version (Revelation 18:15). It is used of mourning for the dead.

Crying is the voice of despair and dismay, as well as sorrow; it is the loud outcry which is the witness that “the times are out of joint.”

Pain includes painful labour and weariness. With the passing away of these, there must depart the ground for the often-repeated cry of Vanity of vanities!

The sad minor of the poet’s song will cease, for “Time with a gift of tears,
Grief with a glass that ran,”
together with “travail and heavy sorrow,” shall be no more. On the whole passage, compare Isaiah 25:8 and Isaiah 65:19.

THE SECOND VOICE.—The voice of Him who sits on the Throne (Revelation 21:5–8).

And he who sat upon the throne . . .—Better, And he who sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. And he saith (the words “unto me” should be omitted) write; because these words are faithful and true.

It is the Throned One, the One who rules over all things from the beginning and who has presided over all the changing scenes of earth’s history, who speaks.

It is He who makes even the wrath of man to praise Him and who causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, who gives this heart-helping assurance: I am making all things new.

In spite of the moral disorder, the pain and grief, and the dark shadows of life and history, the new creation is being prepared and will rise, like the early creation, out of chaos.

The analogy between the old and new creation is the reason why the first chapter of Genesis and the earlier verses of this chapter are appointed as the morning lessons for Septuagesima Sunday.

Just as from an earth without form and void rose the world of order and beauty, which God pronounced very good, so from the world—so full of distress and tears, and overshadowed by so many clouds of sin—will emerge the glad new world, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

The closing words of the verse, perhaps an instruction from the angel, but more probably still the voice of Him who sits on the throne, add the further assurance: These words are true and faithful.